From wikipedia:

In 1855, a Swedish father and son, Georg and Edvard Scheutz, successfully built a Difference Engine. It had been based on a 1834 design by Babbage. Babbage was amongst those who inspected it and gave a positive opinion. In 1859, the British Government purchased one of these for use in the Registrar General’s Office. The purchase had no effect on the refusals to build an analytical engine.

Partly through Babbage’s efforts at gearmaking for these machines, the British had superior machinery for the next few decades, and this contributed to the superiority of the British navy in the first world war.